Gift Tax Filing
Korean gift tax filing and advance planning. Three-month deadline, ten-year aggregation, and the deduction limits that decide how much you pay.
The recipient files, within three months
In Korea, gift tax is paid by the person who receives the property. The return is due within three months from the end of the month in which the gift was received — a shorter window than inheritance tax, so it is easily missed.
Why timing matters more than amount
A gift is the one transfer whose date you choose
Unlike inheritance, you decide when a gift happens. Who receives it, in what order, and in what form changes the total tax substantially. Once the transfer is done, most of those options are gone. Advice is far more useful before the gift than after.
Everything aggregates over ten years
Gifts from the same donor within ten years are added together, and the deduction below is a ten-year cumulative allowance — not a per-gift one. The practical question is therefore not “how much this time” but “how to structure this over a ten-year cycle”.
Deduction limits (per ten years)
| Donor | Limit |
|---|---|
| Spouse | KRW 600 million |
| Lineal ascendant → adult descendant | KRW 50 million |
| Lineal ascendant → minor descendant | KRW 20 million |
| Lineal descendant → ascendant | KRW 50 million |
| Other relatives (within 6th degree by blood, 4th by marriage) | KRW 10 million |
Additional allowances may apply for gifts connected with marriage or childbirth. We check whether you qualify.
It connects back to inheritance tax
If the donor dies within ten years of the gift, the gifted property is added back into the taxable estate. If you are gifting as part of succession planning, the timing decision is the whole exercise.
When to talk to us
- Helping a child with funds to buy a home
- Money already received from parents that has not been reported
- Preparing a business succession
- Transferring real estate or unlisted shares — the valuation method drives the tax
- A gift already received but never filed
If you do not file
Penalties of 20% (40% where the omission is deemed fraudulent) apply, plus late-payment interest of 0.025% per day. In practice the most common problem is money moved between family members without documentation, which the tax office may later treat as an unreported gift. If funds have moved, it is safer to put the position in order now.
Before your consultation
- The relationship between donor and recipient
- The type and approximate value of the property
- Any gifts in the past ten years
- When you intend to make the transfer
Questions about gift tax?
Tell us the situation and we will tell you which documents matter. Email is the easiest way to reach us in English; visits should be booked at least one day ahead.